Ireland politics (Part 2)

Things
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You’re nobody if you’re not being called a far left extremist these days.

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With an aul fella like murphy he wasn’t getting the best start before this anyway

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We’re lucky we have so many perfect parents here that they can see fit to tell others how to raise their children.

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At least the baby’s privacy is being respected what with the photo, newspaper article and unusual name.

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Boris Johnson was a great man to respect the privacy of his children. So much so he gave them a completely private life away from him.

That’s the sort of parent you want.

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The baby is a pawn, better get used to it

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A handy fashion accessory

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I thought it was Jupiter when j saw it first

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Is Paul the father or the mother?

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Neither. He’s a ‘person’, who is related to his own offspring who he refers to as ‘it’.

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I don’t know if he has decided yet

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Paul Murphy and his partner sound like great parents.

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I’d say he’s both. There’s hardly a woman in the picture.

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Paul must like Gin, can’t be long before some hipster calls their child Citrus Hoppy

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Or probably the best baby in the world

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MacAbsentee will be raging she didn’t think of it first

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That would be a great name

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Only gotten round to reading the Murphy article now. It could easily pass for parody or satire.

On the third try, Jess became pregnant with Juniper. The couple had decided on the baby’s name before the birth. “Regardless of whether it was male or female, it was going to be Juniper. I think it’s a gender-neutral name.”

Murphy is not “gendering” Juniper. “We’re not gendering it. So we’re not describing Juniper as a boy, we’re describing Juniper as a baby, but it is male.

“We live in a deeply sexist and gendered society which creates certain expectations for boys and certain expectations for girls. And those things are changing in a positive direction, but there’s a very, very long way to go.”

Murphy will be using the pronoun ‘they’ for Juniper. “We’re not going to be out there correcting people’s pronouns. If people call Juniper a boy and say he and him, that’s fine, we’re not going to be correcting them. We’re not going to fight against society. But to the extent that we can, in our home, in our own relationship with Juniper, we don’t want to limit the kind of future they will foresee for themselves, the role that they will perceive for themselves, the type of play that they will perceive for themselves by saying ‘you’re a boy or you’re a girl’. Just let them decide for themselves.

“You want to dress in pink? Fire ahead. You want to dress in blue? Fire ahead. You want to play football? Brilliant. You want to go dancing? Amazing… it’s just not to limit. Obviously, the vast majority of parents do gender their child and I’ve no criticism of that whatsoever, no judgment. But it is true that if you put the label, boy or girl on your child, you definitely increase the chances of them going down one road or another.”

I am determined that in rearing this child I am going to take 50 per cent of the burden and the responsibility, that we’re not going to have the sexist, very gendered division of labour within our relationship

— Paul Murphy

Murphy says if Juniper decides at the age of three that they are a boy “then we’ll say he and we’ll just say, ‘oh yeah cool, you’re a boy, excellent. And you’re free to change your opinion and you’re free to change your gender identity in the future if you want. We’ll respect that and we’ll change the pronouns that we use. If you say you’re a boy, then great you’re a boy. Or if you say you’re a girl, then great you’re a girl.’ But we don’t want to make that choice for Juniper. That’s for Juniper to discover their own gender identity as opposed to us to assume based on their sex.”

Murphy’s close friends and family are supportive. “I think people understand the gender roles are changing and gender is a more fluid thing than the way people would have historically thought about it. It’s an interesting thing, when you get the cert in the hospital, which says the sex of the baby, it says gender as male or female – when it means sex. It’s wrong. It’s the wrong word. What they mean is sex. They’re talking about their biological characteristics.”

When it comes to logistical challenges, Murphy says he’ll tick the box. “You go apply for a creche place. They’ll want to know is it a boy or a girl and they don’t have a space for other options. And it’s fine, we’ll say, ‘oh it’s a boy’ and we’ll go on to explain. When a lot of people ask is it a boy or a girl, really they mean, is it male or female?”

My favourite bit.

As a politician and a father, Murphy says he’s conscious of respecting Juniper’s privacy

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Ah lads.

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How so?

It’s a very inoffensive article and in it himself and his partner come across as doting, devoted parents who will give their child the best start possible in life.

It’s bizarre what winds some lads here up, it really is.